Brother Apple sows seeds of approval
Xia Haoyang, 23, set out merely to help youngsters keep fit during the COVID-19 epidemic but quickly became an online star.
Xia, who teaches at a kindergarten in Qingdao, Shandong province, and whose charges nicknamed him Brother Apple, started uploading clips to the Bilibili video-sharing platform earlier this year.
In the clips, a good-looking, well-groomed Xia can be seen doing gymnastic exercises while music plays in the background. The videos were aimed at teaching kindergarten children how to dance and do exercises during home isolation. Xia’s lively moves, flexibility and healthy image attracted not only children but also adults, with his most popular clip drawing 370,000 views.
Comments under the videos praise Xia’s moves, which parents and other teachers say they are trying out.
“As a female kindergarten teacher I have to admit that you dance better than me,” one comment said.
Xia said he did not expect to become so popular so quickly, but he also had a serious message about the acceptance of men in the traditionally female job.
“Uploading the videos was just for fun as well as communicating with colleagues,” he said. “I want society to know that male kindergarten teachers are greatly needed and should be respected.”
In 2018 only about 2% of the 2.58 million kindergarten teachers in China were men, the lowest proportion of all school levels, the Ministry of Education said.
A survey in 2017 by China Youth Daily on how people viewed careers showed that 53.2% of the 2,016 respondents thought gender preference or discrimination existed in the selection of kindergarten teachers.
Parents have also expressed concern about cases of sexual misconduct involving male teachers or men being too harsh on their charges, Xia said.
However, over the past 20 years more and more people have become accepting of male kindergarten teachers.
One viewer of Xia’s videos said: “My mother is a teacher of early childhood education. She said there were not many male kindergarten teachers but they were very needed, because teachers of different genders have a different impact on children’s values and personalities. Both male and female teachers are indispensable in shaping children’s characters.”
Another viewer said: “Male teachers are good, because usually children lack the company of male figures in their childhood.”
Gu Jie, a male teacher at Brilliant International School in Beijing, said a colleague nicknamed Brother Sunshine teaches outdoor physical education lessons to kindergarten children at their campus.
“The children like it when he plays sports and games with them,” Gu said, adding that he had not personally experienced gender discrimination.
“On the contrary, male teachers are more popular at the kindergarten. Most parents expect male teachers to take the same responsibility in the care of their children as female teachers, who are more common in schools. I believe more male teachers will join us in the future.”
Xin Xiaoyong, a physical education teacher at Guangzhou No 1 Kindergarten, said that when he graduated from university in 2005 there were already many male kindergarten teachers in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
“Gender discrimination is not an issue; instead,male teachers are valued at the kindergarten and we receive lots of care and support.”
Though most of the comments on Brother Apple’s exercise videos are positive, he has received some criticism.
Xin encouraged male teachers to display masculine physicality rather than just doing moves to cater to parents’ interests.
Male teachers are expected to be professional and humble, he said.